Re-Thinking, Re-Focusing and Re-Energising how we Lead Innovation and Manage Design

Rich Gold drew this cartoon matrix to show the 4 creative hats of creativity he had worn during his career, described in his book Plenitude. He describes the behaviours of people who live in each quadrant and probes the differences between them. But it is interesting to look at how they drive forward innovative thinking. Patrons of artists have to believe in what the artist may create...As Gold puts it "an artist paints a painting, stares at it, and says ' isn't it beautiful, it expresses my inner vision perfectly'".

But users of, and customers for the output of designers take a different viewpoint.

The designer paints a painting, stares at it, then turns it around to the audience and asks 'do you like it? No? then I'll change it.' When it works, when the designer can home in on an audience's wave length, it is an amazing and beautiful trick."

allows the user to explore the sequences on the piece arranged in a branching tree-like structure.

The artist's erotic twist is to involve the viewer through the tactility of the interface; this is interesting as people when they are sketching or writing use different tools that draw different lines- pen (fountain ball-point rollerball), pencil (HB, 6H), brush (round, flat)- and also give different feedback, which can be modified by the media under the tool (paper, canvas, etc).

A designed interface that does not consider the users and how they lay down a mark will struggle to become accepted. Tablet PC's I believe are struggling with this aspect as we are moving from "poking" to writing and the interaction of the surface of the media and the stick is very different from our habitual experiences... we need to move from a functional device to a useful application that is worth investing time and attention.....and it takes time and effort to build a new habit. In my case I guess I might struggle for years... the beauty of a tablet separate from a PC is that you can attach a surface to change the feedback to suit one's style.. brings other problems like removing the mark from the end of the tool.

"Undoubtedly the greatest strength -- and arguably the greatest achievement -- of Jonathan Ive and the Apple design team is that they are never, ever satisfied," said Alice Rawsthorn, then director of London's Design Museum, [now design critic at IHT] in an e-mail. "No sooner has one great new product been completed than, rather than rest on their laurels, they pick it apart and work out how to make it much, much better."

Picture from Apple...link. This isn't evoking the bottom of the Design Pyramid. What would Maslow say?

Whilst on holiday in a the Farmhouse at Triggabrowne we journeyed out on foot or by car but often ended up in Fowey to "chill out" crossing the river on the Polruan Footferry or by the Boddinick Car Ferry to hasten our way back to a slow cooking dinner in the oven! We found the Dwelling House Tea Rooms which have only been open for 5 weeks adding another service to their Bed and Breakfast business. So what made the Ferry journey worthwhile?

First, the Tea Room is in an evocative setting is in beautiful Grade II Georgian Merchant's house overlooking the main street.

Second, the service is impeccable and friendly; the choice of tempting teas is wide as are the savoury and sweet offerings.

Take this tea offering... it is all homemade or locally made, the cakes and scones are definitely home baked and here lies the ability to innovate. Theresa and Adam Garner, the owners, are simultaneously offering a high level and consistency of service and are willing to experiment. So the fruit cake at the back of the middle plate in the picture above has, not glacé cherries but black ones. This adds a very pleasant twist both to taste and appearance.. delicious! The jam we chose to accompany the scones on top is gooseberry, a particular favourite of Marilyn, my wife. In conversation we found that once they had put that jam in a Victoria sponge, the cream had a touch of Elderflower cordial to complement (Elderflowers in gooseberry jam is fantastic when my Marilyn made it) but it didn't make it to customers plates as they didn't choose it... shame, sounds fantastic. So it is this willingness to experiment on what is to be offered whilst maintaining excence on How it is to be delivered that differentiates this tea house from the rest around it. Of course if you want a quick coffee and away then I guess you will be frustrated but if it is a tea experience then this is my second treasure... the other is a 7-hour drive away back in Knutsford at the Courtyard Coffee House.

So make sure your design process makes tomorrow’s opportunities tangible, you can tolerate failure but that it keeps delivering winning products/services. That doesn't mean no failures, just that the balance is weighted in favour of success and the experience remains consistently high. Each design iteration adds knowledge to the whole and can be built on each time the iterative outcome becomes clear... the power of iterative capital!